


By Sunset

by ami_ven



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Community: 100_tales, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-01
Updated: 2014-01-01
Packaged: 2018-01-07 00:25:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1113296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam was going to die, and it was all Jack's fault.</p>
            </blockquote>





	By Sunset

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "100_tales" prompt #012 "sunset"

Sam was going to die, and it was all Jack's fault.

And it was, too, not as in 'I'm the CO, so everything that happens is my fault' but more like ''I should have listened when Daniel said not to touch potentially sacred objects'.

And everything had been going fine until then.

They'd arrived on P3J-112 and Daniel had given his usual 'we are peaceful explorers' speech, which had gotten him an invitation to some kind of academic pow-wow. Then, Sam had gotten the locals to show her their oh-so-fascinating irrigation system, and that had left Jack and Teal'c to wander the City Square all by their lonesomes.

How was he supposed to know that the unfenced and unlabeled rock was their Most Holy and Sacred relic?

Apparently, that didn't matter, and this Most Grievous Insult to their quite-lengthy list of gods (the usual, fictional kind, not Goa'uld) could only be forgiven if he completed the Solemn Ritual of Atonement by local sunset.

If he didn't, they were going to kill Sam, who'd been grabbed and locked up before they could warn her— and even with Daniel and Teal'c allowed to help, he was running out of time. The sky started turning purple and gold as the sun sank toward the horizon, and the three men reached the Pool of Gurgling Water.

The pool was empty.

Jack stared dumbly at the dry rocks.

"Maybe it fills from the tide?" suggested Daniel. "Sam would know."

"Yeah, she would," Jack agreed, his heart sinking as fast as the sun.

He already had the white rock from the Valley of the Great Wind and the purple flowers from the Hill of Incredible Steepness, but there was no way he could make it to the Sea of Gentle Waves before nightfall— and he couldn't even cheat and use the water from their canteens, because they had been confiscated along with the rest of their gear.

On the horizon, the sun glowed faintly gold, then sank out of sight.

Jack sat, hard, on the ground.

He had failed.

Sam was dead, and he was the one to blame. He put his face in his hands, ignoring Daniel's grip on his shoulder, and Teal'c's gentle, "It was not your fault, O'Neill."

It was his fault. Completely and totally his fault. He'd touched the stupid relic, why couldn't they have killed him instead?

"Sir?" asked a voice, suddenly.

Jack shot to his feet, nearly knocking Daniel over. "Carter!"

They barely had time to take in her appearance— looking confused but completely unhurt— before Jack seized her in a fierce hug.

"God, Carter," he breathed, "I thought I lost you."

Her confusion evaporated as she realized that when the sun set he must have automatically assumed the worst, and she hugged him back tightly.

Reluctantly, Jack let go of her. "They said they were going to kill you," he muttered.

"They would have," she agreed, looking annoyed, then immediately a little smug, "if I hadn't escaped the second they locked me up. I'd have radioed, sir, but I have all the radios."

Only then did Jack notice their four packs, which Sam had dropped when he grabbed her. 

"Oh," he said. "Good work, Carter."

"Can't you just get a room?" Daniel muttered.

The military half of SG-1 fixed him with identical glares. "What was that?" asked Sam slowly.

"Um, I said, let's get going," said Daniel quickly— he enjoyed picking on Jack, but he wasn't foolish enough to purposely annoy Sam. "Before they notice we're gone?"

"Right," said Jack, grin firmly back in place. "Carter, lead the way."

THE END


End file.
